Our thanks to Chriss Burgess and the Factory Grill
The Factory Grill is a great place to hold a meeting, decorated as the owner says, in a retro 1960's decor. The main dining room looked to seat 150 people, and they had a plush Executive Board Room that seated 16. Chris tells us that it is rentable, and that they do catering on and off premises. They did a truly fine job along with the staff of Gordons Food Service in preparing and presenting our food for the evening.
The Menu featured a number of interesting and innovative dishes like the braised pork shanks, stuffed pork loin, Caribbean vegetables and seafood spinach ravioli in cream. There was a kickin appetizer of grilled jerk shrimp on sugarcane skewers, a fun lettuce wrap, and the coconut slaw. They finished the evening with a selection of Sweet Street delicacies, in addition to our own contest between Tiramisu's.
Great Job Chris !
And Hundred Thanks to GFS and staff ! |
Gerry Ludwig, CEC Is the Corporate Chef for Gordon Food Service
and the Host for the Presentation for the
2005 Menu Trends Program.
Gerry Ludwig  Rob Granberg
Chef Ludwig with help from Chef Robert Granberg, and Chef Jan Watts, used the occasion of his three day Tour of New York City restaurants, to put together an interesting survey of what represents the cutting edge of menu trends. He had over 180 slides to illustrate his points, and the whole program was fascinating.
In Brief, there are several trends that are currently popular in the food industry:
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There is a phenomenon occurring where Upscale trends are being blended with Mainstream establishments that results in what is being called UpStreaming. This trend is being driven by a more sophisticated consumer, and is effecting every segment of the market. There are several new chains in the Fast Casual segment
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Ethnic Authenticity is a second trend that is sweeping the industry- You can see examples in Latin American, Oriental segments and even Olive Garden has set up a R&D facility in Tuscany.
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There has been a proliferation of small plate dishes; tapas, salumi, olive plates, cheese plates.
Don't throw out the deep fat fryer. Numerous deep-fat fried appetizers have a recurring presence, like the Frito Misto (Mixed Fried Apps). A new/old appetizer is the Arancini, which has traditionally been an Italian deep fried rice & cheese ball. One can see numerous possibilities for incorporating seafoods, pork, beef, chicken and a variety of spice combos into the arancini to create new signature dishes.
One dish that caught my eye was the corn meal deep fried oysters with preserved lemon slice garnish.
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The Asian influence will make it to a more mainstream position. Some possible candidates to see on menus soon would be:
Okonomiyaki is a mixture between pancake and pizza. "Okonomi" means "as you like". This refers to the ingredients. Basically it is a cabbage crepe topped as you like it.
Omusubi (a.k.a., ONIGIRI)- various types of rice balls (or triangles) are easily found in all food stores. Sometimes they are wrapped in seaweed, varieties include tuna, sour plum, caviar, egg, etc.
Kushikatsu -skewered and deep fried meat and vegetables- full of original ideas and a sense of the season.
Dosa - is a large crepe prepared on a round flat iron grill, filled and rolled or folded. Use it as a snack or as a meal. On the national menu of India, it has come in for considerable experimentation . Besides the usual masala and rava dosas, there are umpteen imaginative versions being made for people to savour.
Chef Gerry Ludwig made it clear that he is available for questions and consulting if anyone wants more information. Chef claims to be diligent about his e-mails and returning his calls, so feel free to contact him.
616 - 717-4014 or gludwig@gfs.com
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